Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Morgan has cleverly slipped the matter under the door. He is correct. The relevant official in the Prison Service will be at deputy governor or governor level so there will be responsibility over this process and, for example, there will not be a situation where the local authority does not send out forms and they end up in the bin. It is a serious matter.

To return to Deputy O'Dowd's earlier point with regard to monitoring, one of the best indications as to whether a prison offers this facility will be if a disproportionate number of people are not registered. For example, if there is a large registration in one prison but not in another, that will be an indicator. I have great sympathy with the point made by Deputy O'Dowd. To make people accept part of the responsibilities of citizenship is very positive in terms of education and the development of the person.

There are 200 whole-time equivalent teaching posts in the prisons and the prison education service will play a major role in this area. It would be over-prescriptive to prescribe this in law. However, I would expect and will ensure that a communication is issued to ensure the work is done properly.

I ask the Deputies not to press the amendments as the issues have been dealt with.

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